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Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

I just used up my first set of batteries in my Fenix TK41. When I put them in the charger it said 4 of them still had a full charge and the other 4 were empty. I put all of them in with the negative terminal toward the small springs in the 2 AA columns in the carrier. Does anyone know if I put them in wrong or what might have happened?

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

In the TK41, the battery configuration is 4s2p meaning that there are 2 parallel sets of 4 batteries in series. If there is one bad contact, then it will only be running on 4 batteries and the other 4 will not be used. You need to clean all the contacts on the batteries and holder. Use rubbing alcohol or deoyxit etc.

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

Originally Posted by RCantor

I just used up my first set of batteries in my Fenix TK41. When I put them in the charger it said 4 of them still had a full charge and the other 4 were empty. I put all of them in with the negative terminal toward the small springs in the 2 AA columns in the carrier. Does anyone know if I put them in wrong or what might have happened?

Thanks.

That certainly seems possible. I have a TK45, which I believe uses the same 8xAA battery carrier. The four columns do not all face the same way, nor do they simply alternate up/down -- it's two columns up, then two columns down. It would be pretty easy to load incorrectly if your mind was wandering a bit at the time.

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

Originally Posted by flashflood

That certainly seems possible. I have a TK45, which I believe uses the same 8xAA battery carrier. The four columns do not all face the same way, nor do they simply alternate up/down -- it's two columns up, then two columns down. It would be pretty easy to load incorrectly if your mind was wandering a bit at the time.

But does the negative side of the battery always face the spring in the inside of the carrier?

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

Hey I'm just saying....when I see on the forums that people willing buy ebay $2 18650 3000mah batteries then leave them on charger all night makes me worried some one may be hurt by using the old charger that came with there energisers. I relise that the CPF users tend to consume info on everything torch, battery, runtime, lumuns, tint, shade of green ... (you get the drift) related, a lot of people dont have this forum to ask the numerous questions (like myself) and at least try and be as safe as they can.

I also have a system in place to monitor all my batteries and wont mix batteries at all. I even carry a USB enloop charger with me and have a seperate enloop for that is dedicated to my single AA battery torches (did the research and they can charge single batteries). I have considered gettinga Pila but cant justify an extra $50 to recharge batteries that I already take good care of. I just think the above senario could catch out a lot.

What do you mean they blew up the death star.......... Wait....What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon?

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

I use an MH C808M - 8 independant channels from Thomas distributing, but it's a good point to make people aware. I must have screwed up the first time. I ran a set of imedions through today and all 8 got discharged. The flashlight seemed to last forever though even on only 4 batteries. Today it took 12 hours to mostly d/c the batteries and it was on turbo a lot of that time. I had to leave it unattended for a few hours and put it on medium then. the rest of the time it was high or turbo. It's a very impressive flashlight. This time I found out one of the imedions was dead so it really was running on only 7 cells.

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

Originally Posted by pblanch

Hey I'm just saying....when I see on the forums that people willing buy ebay $2 18650 3000mah batteries then leave them on charger all night makes me worried some one may be hurt by using the old charger that came with there energisers. I relise that the CPF users tend to consume info on everything torch, battery, runtime, lumuns, tint, shade of green ... (you get the drift) related, a lot of people dont have this forum to ask the numerous questions (like myself) and at least try and be as safe as they can.

I also have a system in place to monitor all my batteries and wont mix batteries at all. I even carry a USB enloop charger with me and have a seperate enloop for that is dedicated to my single AA battery torches (did the research and they can charge single batteries). I have considered gettinga Pila but cant justify an extra $50 to recharge batteries that I already take good care of. I just think the above senario could catch out a lot.

Yea it also worries me that people that are completely brand new to high powered LEDs jump straight into Li-ions. I've been in here a while, and I'm still not brave enough for that.

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

Yea it also worries me that people that are completely brand new to high powered LEDs jump straight into Li-ions. I've been in here a while, and I'm still not brave enough for that.

Where you thinking of getting the Pila for some Li-ions?

First time running the Liion to flat (SC600) made me panic a bit sat up half the night recharging to a safer storage level (for battery longevity) and thought you couldnt do this if you were out bush somewhere. I was going to get Pila but couldnt find anywhere in Aus that would sell (at a resonable price - settled on the WF139 but watch it like a hawk checking the temp and voltage every half hour, and placed in a pot plant surrounded by a fireproof blanket just in case - well at least until I get comfortable with the format) Got the batteries and charger from AW in the CPF market place as I would NOT buy anything like that from ebay.

I love the TK41 old school style charm and once you go 750Lm+ you just cant go back I think. But have been put off by the reports of green tint so far.

RCantor can you post the configeration that the full/flat batteries were in. Carrying 4 spare batteries rather than 8 would get you by I think in a jam.

In my last post I put down Pila charger when I meant Maha. Sorry if I caused any confusion (for me as well) Still pricy in Aus but they are coming down in price slowly.

What do you mean they blew up the death star.......... Wait....What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon?

Re: Fenix TK41 - half the batteries empty, other half unused?

If I knew that a battery was in wrong I wouldn't have started this thread I only found out when all the batteries were in the charger. The light is built to use 4 batteries in a pinch but I don't know how to do that. It is posted here on CPF (or MP) but I didn't have the light with me when I read it. To be honest I didn't see a change in brightness and it still seemed to run for just about ever. I have no problem with using LiIons. just read about them and use a proper charger. The newer U/F 139 chargers seem to do it right by all accounts. I've heard the same about the newer 4 sevens chargers.

As for green tint, mine looks pure white on med - turbo. It looks a little blue-grey on low. When I compare it with neutral lights in the 4000K - 4750K range it looks very slightly green but nothing to screech about. There's a thread where someone was very upset by a large amount of dust in his Fenix head but wouldn't post pictures. I think there's some people who are out to hurt Fenix for whatever reason. The TK41 is a spectacular light. It's the biggest light I own but in terms of reach and runtime it definitely outshines the smaller lights.

I got the particular Maha because I imagine eventually I'll need to recharge NiMH C & Ds. It's also unbeliveably great. It charges 8 AAs from empty to full in about 3 hrs. I didn't set out to time it so I don't know exactly.